Infrastructural crisis force factories to a near collapse

14 Jan '08

2 min read

Factories in Nepal are undergoing a critical phase because of frequent and at times continuous power cuts in the country.

At present the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is facing a shortage of 80 MegaWatt of electricity. However, a memorandum inked between NEA and Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS) of India on January 5, 2007, approves the construction of a 220 KV transmission line to trade electricity across border.

Recently, the NEA announced a 13 hours load-shedding a day and the consequences were quite obviously disastrous. More than five hundred factories across the country are bearing a loss of Rs10 million every day.

Even supply of electricity from India has reduced by 50 MW from January 3. Besides, erratic power-cuts have forced many factories to opt for permanent shut down.

While the demand for electricity in the eastern region is 120 MW, Sunsari Morang consumes only 40 MW. On the contrary, a supply of 87 MW of electricity is catered from the hydro power of Multifuel Khola and Hydropower of Bansbari in India.

It is becoming increasingly difficult to run operations in the factories with the available 33 MW supply of electricity. However, the Authority is trying to schedule the power-cuts and has also been collaborating with foreign organizations to overcome the present crisis.

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